


swallowed by a vicious vengeful sea

by sassywriterchick



Series: heaven help a fool who falls in love [1]
Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Auror AU, F/M, Slow Burn, multiple parts, third year - prisoner of azkaban
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-29
Updated: 2018-10-29
Packaged: 2019-08-09 08:45:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16446596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sassywriterchick/pseuds/sassywriterchick
Summary: “So,” Amy says. “We’re pretty sure we know where Black’s supposed to be.”“Which is?”“Hogwarts,” Amy says, “the guards heard him muttering in his sleep ‘he’s at Hogwarts’ again and again.”“I mean he could just be talking about his much younger and more attractive self,” Jake says, picking up a picture of Sirius Black off her desk.(or jake and amy are aurors investigating sirius black's escape from azkaban.)part one in a five part series





	swallowed by a vicious vengeful sea

**Author's Note:**

> okay so I just want to start this off by saying that part two is way better than part one SO JUST STICK WITH ME
> 
> ALSO for whatever reason sometimes when I use italics it deletes the space and I tried to catch all of them but I might have missed a few. Sorry! 
> 
> I KEEP ADDING NOTES, but first. this follows the book sequence of events, so there's stuff that doesn't happen in the movies, that does happen in the books - such as sirius black standing over Ron's bed with a knife. (Terrifying imagery, can't imagine why they didn't include it lol)

i.

 

      It’s day seven when they bring in the ‘American Auror’.

      The day Amy meets her new partner can only be described as pure insanity.

      She hasn’t slept for the three days, Rosa keeps accidentally (or not so accidentally) jinxing Hitchcock and Scully, and Charles has been repeatedly dozing and accidentally setting things on fire in his sleep.

      “What?!” He’d protested when Amy had shaken him away from the _fourth_ time and simultaneously extinguished the small fire he’d set. “When I dream about Genieve sometimes - “

      _“Don’t even think about finishing that sentence,”_ Amy hisses. She really doesn’t need this right now. None of them do, really.

      It’s been four days since Sirius Black had escaped from Azkaban, and tensions are running high in their squad in the Auror department.

      “Attention!” Holt shouts. Amy whirls. She knows that she looks slightly deranged, her hair escaping from her bun, her wand clutched loosely in her hand and her makeup smudged under her eyes. “The Ministry has decided to take the very generous help offered by the Magical Congress of the United States of America by transferring their best Auror to our office in order to help bring Sirius Black back to justice.”

      That, Amy thinks, is the most insulting thing yet. Sure, Sirius Black escaped from the most secure prison in the world _but_ that didn’t mean that their Aurors weren’t perfectly capable of handling tracking him down themselves _thank you very much._ Despite having no leads of the sort.

Plus, the fact that the man standing in front of her could be the best auror in all of the United States - well it’s _laughable_.

      He’s dressed sloppily, in gaping robes that clearly display his muggle clothes underneath. His hair is messy, he’s _grinning_ like a mass murderer isn’t on the loose, and is wearing _sneakers._ He looks like a child playing dress up, and Amy is not amused.

Charles can have fun with him.

      “Santiago!” Holt says next, and Amy draws herself taller. “You’ll be partnering with Jake Peralta on this.”

      “Oh sir I don’t think that’s - “

      “It’s final,” Holt says. “Order comes from Scrimgeour himself. He thinks the two of you will work well together.”

      _Laughable,_ Amy thinks. _Absolutely laughable._ If she and Jake Peralta work well together, she’ll jinx herself.

Holt lingers only to say, _Jake Peralta this is Amy Santiago_ as if they hadn’t gone over this already.

      “Everyone has one more hour!” He declares loudly after this awkward introduction, “and then I want you to get some sleep. There’s no point in working this case if you’re all tired, and Kingsley’s squad is coming in to pick up where we left off.”

      “This is ridiculous,” Amy says, “we don’t _need_ sleep.”

      Her new partner looks her over for approximately a second and then shakes his head. “No, you’re just shaking slightly out of excitement, I’m sure that’s it. Or do you always do that?”

      “An hour,” Holt repeats before disappearing into his office.

      An hour which Amy is going to have to be explaining the situation to Mr. ‘American Hotshot’ Peralta. She stalks back to her desk, gesturing for him to follow.

      He drops himself on the vacant desk across from her’s, and Amy grits her teeth. She’d loved having that desk empty, it had meant that she hadn’t had to deal with whatever messy habits her deskmate had.

      “So,” Amy says. “We’re pretty sure we know where Black’s _supposed_ to be.”

      “Which is?”

      “Hogwarts,” Amy says, “the guards heard him muttering in his sleep ‘he’s at Hogwarts’ again and again.”

      “I mean he could just be talking about his much younger, more attractive self,” Jake says, picking up a picture of Sirius Black off her desk.

      “That is a man who killed _thirteen_ people,” Amy says in exasperation, ripping the picture away from him.

      “Okay, well what could he be so desperately wanting at Hogwarts?”

      Amy could not believe this was the best America had to offer. “Harry Potter.”

      “The boy who - _oh_ ,” Jake says. “That doesn’t make sense though. Harry Potter is a thirteen year old boy, right? Why is Sirius Black so desperate to kill him?”

      Amy supposes she hasn’t thought about it that way. “I don’t know, but it’s the best lead we’ve got.”

      “Fair,” Jake says. “So. What protection do they have around Hogwarts?”

 

ii.

      Harry Potter disappears for one heart stopping evening, but their frantic search is called off when he turns up in the Leaky Cauldron.

      The fact is this: it’s been nearly a month, and they have no leads. No sightings, no ideas, not even an inkling of how he could have gotten past the dementors.

      That, and her new partner is driving her _insane._ It would be one thing if he was helpful, but so far his most enlightening insight was that, “Sirius Black could be holing up with an old lover?”

      Amy’s starting to see Black’s face in her dreams. They have pictures of him plastered up all over the office, ones from school, his childhood, the Potters wedding.

      “I agree with Jake,” Rosa says one afternoon. “Sirius Black is hot.”

      Amy refrains from throwing something at the pair of them and instead settles for angrily snapping one of her quills while she tries to fill out a request to see the Azkaban cell he escaped from, _yet again._

      “I just don’t understand his motive,” Jake finally says one afternoon, while most of them are off pursuing other cases (just because a killer is on a loose doesn’t mean _other_ crime stops). “If he and James Potter were such close best friends, why would he betray him? Why would he kill Peter Pettigrew?”

      “He’s a pyscho,” Amy says. “That’s all there is to it.”

      Jake hums a little bit, but she doesn’t think she’s convinced him.

 

 

iii.

 

      Eventually, due to a lack of evidence, the amount of Aurors on the active case dwindles. It’s now Kingsley’s squad and Amy and Jake. Because _the american was here to help them with this specifically Santiago,_ and _no you can’t have that other murder case._

      She now knows almost as much about Sirius Black as she knows about herself.

      She also is learning a disturbing amount about Jacob Peralta. She knows that he didn’t like Ilvermony much, that his mother was a public school muggle art teacher, that he didn’t have much of a father growing up and he still loved muggle ‘movies’, which were basically moving talking pictures.

      She learns that he has a girlfriend named Sophia who he sometimes mentions casually in an offhand way, and that she hadn’t wanted to follow him to Britain because she was scared it would interfere with her career.

      It’s the most confusing case Amy has ever been on, and she was in charge of a case involving the imperious curse and two gunia pigs. In fact, there’s almost complete silence until:

      “Gold mine,” Jake whoops. “Sirius Black just tried to infiltrate the Gryfinndor tower and _failed_!”

      “ _What_?”

      “Santiago, there’s no time!”

      This is how she finds herself standing outside of the large oak doors with Jake Peralta, wrapped in her warmest coat and feeling something like excitement.

      _Nobody got hurt,_ she reassures herself. _He’s not in the castle. This could be the lead we’re looking for._

      Amy hasn’t been back to Hogwarts since she graduated when she was seventeen. It wasn’t that she didn’t love the place, it was that she was too busy. You know, living life. Doing all that. Of course, when she’d graduated the world had been slowly crumbling to pieces.

      She had been eighteen when Harry Potter had ‘defeated’ the Dark Lord and ‘peace’ had been restored. Some days it counted more than others.

      She’d been two years younger than the Potters in school. She’d caught glimpses of the both of them in the hallways at school, Lily with her hair like fire and James always with that stupid snitch. She remembers the matter of fact tone her father had delivered the news in: _They died protecting their son._

      Considering that son was now thirteen and in immense danger made Amy feel all at once, _very_ old.

      “So _this_ is Hogwarts,” Jake says, tipping his head back to look up at the castle. “Have to say, Ilvermony’s bigger.”

      “It’s the middle of the night. You can’t even see all of the castle.”

      “I can _picture_ it okay, and isn’t that - “

      “No, it isn’t - “

      “Miss Santiago,” a crisp voice says. “Is there something you’d like to share with the rest of us?”

      “Not at all, Professor McGonagall.”

      It is quite dark outside, so Amy can barely see it when Jake mouths _teacher’s pet_ at her. They’re standing with a small assemblage of Aurors, teachers, and other people gathered from Sirius Black’s attempted break in to the Gryfinndor tower.

      “The professor’s have already searched the school,” Professor McGonagall informs them. “We are quite certain Black has fled the premises.”

      “With your permission, Auror Santiago and I would like to look at the place he just was in order to collect any sort of evidence,” Jake says, stepping forward.

      “Are you doubting that the highly established professor’s of this school missed anything?” McGonagall asks them.

      “Not at all,” Amy cuts in quickly. “Just so we can have it for our own work. That’s all.”

      “Very well,” she responds. “I trust you to be as cautious as you were in class Santiago.”

      “Of course,” Amy beams, immensely excited that she _remembers_ her.

      “Oh my god,” Jake says, once they’ve passed through the large oak doors and into the castle. “Did she seriously just remember you as _cautious?_ Who is even remembered as being cautious? How cautious were you?”

      “At least she remembers me,” Amy says primly. “Can you say the same about any of your professors?”

      “Probably,” Jake says, “although let’s say they won’t remember me as being _cautious._ More as a legendary badass. You know how it is.”

      Stepping back into the entry hall is like stepping back in time. She wishes she could stop and take it in for a moment, to catalogue the feeling within herself and shelter it for a rainy day.

      Instead Amy shakes off the feeling and instead stalks toward the marble staircase, barely sparing a backwards glance at the Great Hall where hundreds of students are curled up and sleeping.

      “Let me guess,” Jake says in a hushed voice as they go up the stairs. “You were in Ravenclaw.”

      “Your assumption would be correct.”

      “Well at least you were with a bunch of other nerds. Why do you know the way to the Gryfinndor tower so well?”

      “I lived here for seven years, what do you expect? Me to get us hopelessly lost?”

      The universe likes to make fun of her. They promptly get lost, of course.

      “I’m Auror Santiago,” Jake mocks her in a whiny little voice, “and I _never_ get lost. Ask for a map? Never.”

      “Shut up,” Amy hisses. “For your information, the castle corridors have obviously _changed.”_

      “Changed? You do realize we’re talking about a building here, right?”

      “And you do realize that you’re a wizard, _right_? If you can change a coffee mug into a small pig, which I watched you do _last week,_ what makes you think you couldn’t move some corridors around? God, how did an idiot like you ever become an auror?”

      “Perseverance,” Jake says cheerfully. “I would say we should ask someone for directions, but we’re wandering in this strange castle alone, at night. Where a mass murderer could be lurking.”

      “It’s not a strange castle, it’s Hogwarts, and the professors said that the coast was - “

      “And I’m…wait is that a gigantic black _dog_?”

      It is, in fact, a gigantic black dog. They’ve clearly startled it, it stands stock still in the hallway like it’s about to bolt.

      “Oh god,” Amy says, lifting up the hem of her robes to cover her face. “They didn’t allow dogs here when _I_ was at school. I’m - shoo! Get away!”

      This last part is because the dog had taken a few weary steps toward them.  It looked like the kind of dog that hungered for blood. (Then again, Amy thought all dogs looked like they were hungering for blood. Stupid allergies.)

      “Nice dog,” Jake coos, reaching out a hand placatingly. “We mean you no harm.”

      “Speak for _yourself_ , Peralta.”

      “Don’t listen to Santiago,” Jake says, boldly scratching the dog behind it’s ears. “You’re a good boy, aren’t you?”

      The dog wags it’s tail in answer.

      “Peralta,” Amy warns.

      “I bet this boy saw the whole thing,” Jake says. “Didn’t you?”

      “If you’re willing to leave the dog behind, I think I know where we are,” Amy says, voice still muffled by the robes.

      “What’s up with you?”

      “I am very,” sneeze, “ _allergic_ to dogs.”

      Jake looks sadly down. “It looks like we’re going to have to leave you behind buddy,” he says. “But if you hear anything about Sirius Black, tell Peralta first. I hear that Santiago chick is kind of a bitch.”

      Amy whacks him across the shoulders for that, dropping her robes for a split second. It’s worth it, really. “Are you kidding me?”

      “Hey,” he raises his hands, “You don’t ever know if someone will invent a spell to make animals talk or something. Might come in handy to have a good relationship.”

      “You’re ridiculous.”

      (Later, they find a suspicious amount of dog fur at the crime scene, and Professor McGonagall will say the only dog that lives at the castle is Hagrid’s dog Fang. Jake becomes insufferable with pride.)

 

iv.

 

      To Amy’s extreme annoyance, they’re put on the dog thing full time. Apparently, the case is so ‘in-depth’ that they need to assign certain partnerships to certain aspects. The way the other squad leader hands her the case makes Amy think that this is them trying to get her and Jake out of the way. After all, how would it look if someone from a different squad actually managed to crack the case?

      Even Jake seems disgruntled. “Sir,” he says, “It’s not that I don’t think the dog is worth investigating, it’s just I don’t think it requires two people’s _entire_ attention. Maybe just Santiago - “

      Amy kicks him discreetly in the ankle.

      “There’s many aspects to the case,” Holt says, “and we can’t overlook the dog one. It’s out of my hands. This where is where the higher ups want you.”

      “But _sir_ \- “

      Her protests don’t work. She and Jake are actually investigating whether or not a _dog_ has anything to do with Sirius Black.

      “It literally could just be someone’s pet,” Amy says. “Who sniffed around the crime scene.”

      “It’s not Fang,” Jake says, “and that’s the _only dog_ up there. What else do you think, some kid smuggled it up to school?”

      Their corner of the Auror office now has an entire board dedicated to pictures of dogs. Some of them move, some of them Jake has just cut out from muggle magazines and pasted to the wall with a sticking charm.

      The largest one is a picture of Hagrid’s dog Fang ( _so we don’t confuse dogs Santiago)_ and Amy swears he’s mocking her.

      If Jake is a representation of the United States as a whole, she’s not a fan.

      It’s because of him that she’s going to see a Quidditch match at Hogwarts, something she’d managed to avoid doing in her seven years at the school, despite two of her brothers playing for their teams.

“Have fun at your match,” Rosa says before they leave, but Amy thinks it’s meant to be more mocking. She and Charles are investigating a string of grisley murders involving dark magic. Amy is 90% sure that if she didn’t get saddled with Peralta, she’d be off this dog thing and doing something productive.

      But no, because he was a foreign ‘specialist’ on the Sirius Black case, she was here.

      Damn Peralta.

      “Why the hell would the dog turn up to a Quidditch match?” She demands as they search for an empty seat in the stands. “And it’s freezing, why are so many people _even here?”_

She’s never understood school sports. Sue her.

They manage to find two pairs of seats squeezed behind some faculty members and a couple of Hufflepuffs who are screaming their little hearts out to some tune Amy had heard Charles singing in the work kitchen yesterday.

      It’s bitterly cold and stormy, the wind whipping against her cheeks and causing her to draw her coat closer around her ears. Trust Jake Peralta to pick _this_ sport event over all others.

      “The reason being,” Jake says, “Harry Potter is playing today. If the dog and Sirius Black are connected in any way, my guess is he’d come to try and make something happen at the match.”

      “You’re acting like the dog is capable of complex thinking,” Amy says.

      “You never know what could happen to wizards out there,” Jake says in a deeper voice than before, “the world changes people.”

      It takes her a moment to realize he’s joking, and she’s laughing before she can stop herself.

      “Oh my god, was that a laugh?” He asks. “Amy Santiago, capable of _laughter?_ ”

      She pauses for a moment. “Sorry,” she finally says. “I’m just frustrated that we’re not doing more to help catch him. This entire thing feels like a waste of time.”

      “I know,” Jake says, and she actually believes he _does_ know. “It’s unsettling to imagine that any of the bad guys we put into Azkaban could be free somehow. And what are we doing, investigating _black dogs_. I don’t even think it’s meant to be an omen of death.”

      “Did you put away a lot of bad guys in the Staes?” Amy asks curiously.

      Jake snorts. “What, did you think I became the best for no reason?”

      “The best Auror is obviously Hawkins,” Amy says. “Seriously. They wouldn’t send their best Auror overseas.”

      “Hawkins isn’t a good Auror,” Jake says, surprisingly bitterly. “She’s a fraud and deals in magical drugs and stolen muggle goods that she sells on the black market.”

      “Excuse me?”

      “Didn’t hear about it? That’s because the american government don’t want people to know. So they sent their ‘best Auror’ here to settle the ‘british problem’. To save face. And also, to get me out of the way of the press probably. As they investigate ‘internal affairs’.”

      “Well,” Amy says. “I take it back. You’re more impressive than I thought you were. And no, I didn’t hear about it. I assumed she had just gone undercover again.”

      “You never said I _wasn’t_ impressive,” Jake says.

      “Not to your face,” she shrugs. “We were all thinking it. Especially when it comes to tracking _a magical dog.”_

      “If the dog shows up to this Quidditch match,” Jake says, “you owe me five Galleons.”

      “Oh you’re _on_ ,” Amy says, snorting. “How are you even going to - “

      He pulls out a pair of enormous binoculars from his coat. “Did you really think I was going to be dog watching _without_ my utterly awesome tools? I even charmed these bad boys to be water resistant.”

      “I hate you,” Amy says, and the match begins. The players are blurs on the air, the snow and rain whipping the entire thing into a frenzy. Amy’s never loved Quidditch games, the excitement, the screaming, the players falling and twisting in midair.

      That, or the fact that riding a broom was the _one_ thing she could never master. (If she’s being brutally honest with herself, she thinks it’s probably the second one.)

      “YES!” Jake shouts, pumping his fist in the air. She’s confused at first because nobody’s scored a goal. He shoves the binoculars into Amy’s face and then angles her head the right direction. “Suck it Santiago. Wait, can you see that? Am I holding it the right way?”

      “No way,” she breathes. There is _the dog_ : sitting on an abandoned stretch of upper seats. “That’s - oh my god Jake it’s _the dog_ \- “

      The moment she starts speaking, Harry Potter plummets out of the crowds and toward the field below. A twisting shape in midair without his broomstick.

     

iv.

     

      Jake Peralta’s apartment is simultaneously exactly what she expected and not at all. It’s what she expected in the general overall messiness, the dirty clothes spilled around the hamper and the dishes piling up in the sink.

      It’s not what she expected in the fact that there seems to be an overwhelming amount of stationary muggle pictures about something called ‘Die Hard’, something Amy thinks is called a TV, and a bunch of other muggle oddities she’s never encountered before.

      She’d known he was a muggleborn, but most of the muggleborn’s she’d encountered tried to shove that part of themselves, not embrace it whole heartedly. It makes her like him a little bit more.

      “We need to tell Scrimgeour or Holt right away - “

      “Listen,” Jake says, shoving away some blankets to make room for her on the couch. Amy sits down cautiously, afraid that something’s going to bite her. “I went to my superior officers with the Hawkins thing, and they barely did _anything_.”

      “That was in america - “

      “What, are you really saying you trust Scrimgeour? The dude looks like a decaying lion - “

      “Completely beside the point - “

      “If we tell them, the dog lead is taken away from us completely,” Jake says. “They pass it off to some big hotshot who’ll dismiss it. You and I get taken off the case completely.”

      “How do you know they’ll dismiss it?”

      Jake points at her, and Amy feels her cheeks grow warm.

      “I believe in the dog lead _now_ , okay?” She says. “I’m sorry I doubted you. Not that you totally believed in yourself anyways.”

      “That and five galleons make it all better,” Jake says in satisfaction. “But seriously. They’ll dismiss it as a coincidence and move us onto something else. But you and I _both_ know there’s something here. Maybe. Probably.”

      “Fine,” Amy concedes. “But just because we’re not telling them now doesn’t mean we won’t tell them _later_. And besides, it was the dementors that caused Harry’s fall - not this mythical _dog_. We’ll keep pursuing it, to remain on the case.”

      Jake tips his head toward her in what she assumes is supposed to be a thankful nod and slumps onto the couch next to her.

      “Did you know him?” He finally asks, tipping his head back to look at the ceiling.

      “Know who?”

      “Sirius Black?”

      “Not really,” Amy says. “We were in different houses and he was several years older. I saw him a couple times running around with James Potter.”

      “It’s just weird,” he finally says, stretching his arms above his head. “What normal kid randomly decides to betray the closest friend he’s ever had? There’s just something about it that seems off to me.”

      “I know,” Amy says, and she finds she doesn’t want to talk about ghosts right now. The world is full of them, and she feels as if she can see imprints of Sirius Black everywhere. Desperate to draw Jake away from this topic she says, “okay, I hope I don’t regret this, but what exactly is ‘Die Hard’?”

      “Your joking.”

      “I grew up in a wizard family with six brothers - “

      “Okay, cancel any plans you had tonight. We are sitting here and we are watching this movie and you are going to _love_ it.”

      “I’ve never even seen a movie,” Amy says. “What is it?”

      “You poor uncultured soul,” Jake tsks. “I swear, are all wizards so determined to have no fun at all?”

      Amy should leave.

      The air is still full of ghosts though, and there doesn’t seem to be any harm in staying.

 She kicks off her boots and Jake orders some muggle food from a ‘telephone’ and he gives her a warm sweatshirt to wear instead of her own still cold coat. They curl up on his crappy sofa and watch the movie (which Jake has to stop every few seconds in order to answer her questions about _what is this_ or _who is that_ ) but she likes it despite herself. The memory of Sirius Black and James Potter fades from her head.

      The next morning at work Charles asks her what they found out from the Quidditch Match and Amy says _nothing_ like it was nothing.

      “Well it was a wild idea,” Charles says, “I mean, a dog attending a Quidditch match?”

 

v.

 

      The decision to interview Professor Lupin comes after no more black dogs have been sighted and Jake and Amy are both feeling a little irritated. That, and Kingsley had said that Amy was the best chance they had of getting Lupin to open up.

      “Dawlish just got on his nerves,” Kingsley says tiredly. “Can I trust you to have some more tact?”

      _Of course_ he can trust Amy, and _of course_ he can trust Amy to keep Jake in line. It’s the first legitimate task they’ve been given since being handed the whole ‘dog’ thing.

      “So sorry to disturb you Professor Lupin,” Amy apologizes again, “especially on your off day.”

      She had gone to school with him as well, technically. She couldn’t remember much of him though, a faded smudge to Sirius Black and James Potter’s antics. Of course, he was the only one alive and not a mass murderer now.

      Funny, how time went.

      “Please call me Remus, Amy,” he says, “a butterbeer?”

      “Yes please,” Jake says, and they take a seat in front of his desk.

      “I assume you’re here to ask me about Sirius Black,” Lupin says. “Dumbledore told me that you seem to be the only pair of Aurors to think I _didn’t_ aide him into the castle.”

      “Innocent until proven guilty,” Jake says cheerfully. Amy shoots him a look. “And your lack of motive, of course. There’s that. ”

      “We’re not here to accuse you of anything,” Amy says quickly. “I, for one, don’t believe you have anything to do with it. If you truly wanted to kill Harry Potter, he’d be dead already. Not that you have it in you to kill anyone. Of course. ”

      “I appreciate the support,” Lupin says. “You were always the smartest witch in your year.”

      “I was _also_ the smartest wizard in my year,” Jake says. “Not that you’d know me, of course. American and all that.”

      Amy decides to ignore this. “Anyways. We more want to ask you what Sirius Black was like at school.”

      “You went to school with him,” Lupin says.

      “Yes,” Amy says, “but I wasn’t friends with him. I knew the Sirius Black that everyone else saw.”

      “And I didn’t?”

      “I don’t think so, no,” Amy says. “I just want to know different aspects about his classwork. Was he particularly skilled in transfiguration?”

      They don’t ask directly about the black dog because despite what Amy has said she _hasn’t_ completely ruled out Remus Lupin as an accomplice yet. While the more sympathetic part of herself wants to say that

      Instead they get the same vague answers as anyone else, although there’s a specific emphasis that wasn’t there with Sirius’ other classmates. The sort of details that only a friend can know.

      They’re standing in front of the castle doors, and Amy is feeling oddly defeated for whatever reason. She isn’t sure why, it’s not as if she was expecting something groundbreaking from Remus Lupin.

      “Well,” Amy says, crossing her arms over her chest. “I think it’s time we head back to the office. Look at more pictures of some dogs.”

      “Oh _c’mon_ Santiago,” Jake says. “I heard that the Three Broomsticks is incredible.”

      “We just had a butterbeer with Remus - “

      “Yeah, a _sad_ butterbeer. The atmosphere ruined it.”

      “Oh what atmosphere, our jobs?”

      She agrees to go in the end anyways, because apparently Jake Peralta is a horrible influence on her. That, and she doesn’t really want to go back to the office yet anyways. She doesn’t want to walk in there and feel like they’ve just brought back more pictures of dogs.

      “So you were kind of a smart kid at school, eh?” Jake asks around a hot mug of butterbeer less than an hour later. The Three Broomsticks is quieter than Amy’s ever seen it, the dementor sweeps and sighting of Sirius Black in the castle driving everyone else away.

      “Apparently,” Amy says. “I don’t know. If I was really _that_ smart, I think we should have found Sirius Black by now.”

      “Nobody else has caught him yet. I think we’ve got something with this dog theory of ours,” Jake says. “You know, you’re not the worst partner in the world.”

      “Oh wow, _thanks_ Jake.”

      “I mean, you did pay up when I was right.”

      “Are you ever going to forget about that?”

      “Of course not,” Jake says. “How could I be your partner if I just let you forget things like the time when you were horribly wrong?”

      Amy chokes a little bit on her butterbeer when she laughs, and Jake’s grin grows wider.

      “I made you laugh again,” he says. “ _Progress_.”

      “Progress on what?”

      “I don’t know. The Santiago scale of disapproval.”

      “Whatever,” she says, rolling her eyes. “I just wish I could figure out how someone could control a dog. See through it’s eyes? I don’t know. How did you figure out Hawkins was being - “ she gestures.

      “An all over bitch? I spied her going over one of her deals. But the problem is: everyone _loves_ her. They admit I was right and she was participating in criminal activity and it makes the whole government look bad. So they have to have someone higher up catch her, you know? Not some low level Auror nobody knows.”

      “Wow,” Amy says. “That is not right.”

      “I know right?” Jake grins. “Everyone loves me. Especially Charles.”

      “That was not what I meant, and you know it,” she laughs. “Can’t deny the Charles things though. I was thinking about offering to trade cases with him, before we had conclusive proof on the dog thing.”

      “And abandon me?” Jake asks in disbelief. “On this baseless dog theory?”

      Amy groans. “Maybe we should have asked Lupin about the dog.”

      “Hello, Professor Lupin,” Jake says in a deep tone, “Did you know if your friend had any weird relations with dogs?”

      Amy doesn’t mean to laugh, she swears. She had been so set against disliking Jake Peralata that she doesn’t know when he suddenly became someone who could make her laugh. All she knows is that she is laughing and laughing loudly. The sort of laughing that makes her snort a little. _Damn Peralta._

      Jake’s grinning at her and maybe, _maybe_ Amy Santiago considers him to be more a friend than a nuisance now.

      “I can’t believe we’ve been assigned the most ridiculous part of this entire case.”

      “No stone unturned Peralta,” Jake says in an uncanny impression of Holt. Amy snorts again.

      “Despite the dog being at the Quidditch game, I’m not convinced that it has anything to do with this entire thing,” she says.

      “I have a weird feeling about the dog. A good weird feeling.”

      “Is that because you’re really desperate for something to pull us out of this case stand still? _Of course_ you do,” Amy says, rolling her eyes.

      Jake grins. “Care to make things a little more… _interesting_?”

      She eyes him warily. “In what way exactly?”

      “Well what’s the worst thing you can imagine right now?”

      She looks him over. “Spending anymore time with you,” she says.

      “Ouch! Wow, that touched a place deep inside me,” Jake deadpans. “Fine. Let’s say if the dog ends up being a part of this case, you have to go on the worst hang out session ever with me.”

      “Good luck with that,” Amy says. “And if I win… _I know_! I get your Cleansweep.”

      Jake winces. “I thought you didn’t fly!”

      “I’ll use your pretty little broomstick to learn,” Amy says in satisfaction, “once we catch Sirius Black and the dog was just a coincidence. I’ll crash it. Into the snow.”

      “The best thing about this,” Jake says, “is that you _have_ to help me prove that the dog thing isn’t just a coincidence.”

      Amy raises an eyebrow. “ _If_ it isn’t just a coincidence.”

 

vi.

 

      They’ve been working on the case for nearing five months when Jake’s girlfriend visits for the first time. She had conveniently forgotten Jake had a girlfriend. They were both stuck staring at pictures of Sirius Black and dogs all day and oddly their conversations never turned to things like girlfriends.

      Instead she knew the most random things about him, like his shoe size, his favorite ‘movie’, his favorite food. She knows enough about him to fill out a survey, but nothing about his girlfriend.

      She finds out through Charles.

      “Today I have a surprise for Jake,” he’d whispered to her in the break room.

      “You?” Amy had asked, raising an eyebrow, “a _surprise_?”

      “Jake hasn’t seen his girlfriend in months and I thought it’d be nice if he could be getting so- “

      “She’s here?” Amy had interrupted before he could say anything else. She didn’t care, not really. It was just that having Sophia here could prove a distraction in their…well pretty boring case, admittedly.

      Sophia appears during the middle of a briefing session, and Jake immediately throws himself at her. Amy is fairly certain nobody has ever swung her around like that, or kissed her in the way Jake kisses her.

      It turns out Sophia has beautiful long brown hair and wears pointy heels that clack satisfactory against the tiles. She’s a successful business woman over in the states, and if she’s as put together as she likes…well Amy’s a mess.

      Sophia cups Jake’s face in her palms and says, “My brave Auror,” in such a gooey voice that it makes Amy queasy. She lingers by her desk, bracing her fingers against the surface. She wishes she’d worn a different set of robes today, or that her hair wasn’t looking quite so draggled. Or that she’d whipped out her snazzy quill instead of her plain swan feather one.

      She points her wands at her shoes and cleans them when nobody’s looking which at least makes her feel _slightly_ better and put together. Why couldn’t Charles have told her that she was meeting someone new _yesterday?_ She’d been planning on eating polish food and debating on different locations Sirius Black could be illicitly (as it wasn’t pertaining to what Amy and Jake referred to as ‘the dog theory’ now.)

      “And this,” Jake says finally, “is my partner. Amy Santiago.”

      Amy shakes Sophia’s hand with her most firm, authoritative grip that suggests put togetherness.

      “I’ve heard so much about you Amy!” Sophia says cheerily. “You’re working on the same case, correct?”

      Their biggest shared case, yes, but Amy fights to point out that she does have _other_ cases, thank you very much. Instead she just smiles and nods and fights the overwhelming feeling of dislike rising in her.

      “Holt has already said you can have the rest of the day off!” Charles says cheerily.

      “Thanks Charles,” Jake says. “This is _awesome_. Amy, do you mind going over what we discussed earlier by yourself, or do you want me to stay?”

      “Not at all,” Amy says. “Go have some fun.”

 

vii.

 

      It ends up being less than a day when she sees him again, once she’s heaved out of her bed (by the other squad leader) in the middle of the night because Sirius Black has somehow snuck past the dementors again. This time, however, he’d stood over a student’s bed with a _knife._

“Where’s Peralta?” Dawlish asks her.

      “He can’t make it,” Amy says. “I’ll figure out the…”

      “The dog theory,” Dawlish snorts. “You two have fun, don’t you?”

      Amy is enraged. Just to placate the american government they are wasting an inordinate amount of time and energy (not to mention her time) on a stupid dog?

      The worst part? Amy sees a dog slinking over the grounds like a monstrous shadow when she begins her patrol of the grounds. It’s being closely stalked by a large ginger cat.

      “I swear to god,” she says to nothing.

      “Santiago?” Professor McGongall asks when Amy doesn’t follow the rest of her squad into the castle. “Do you see something?”

      “Damn it,” Amy swears. “I mean - _sorry_ Professor, I just need to follow a different lead. The lead I’ve been told to pursue.”

      “Alone?” Professor McGonagall looks surprised. “Where’s your partner?”

      “He’s enjoying some personal time off,” Amy says. “I’ll be fine. Let me know if you find any clumps of fur around the castle? You know, just in case there’s any connection.”

      She stomps off, wishing beyond wish that this stupid _dog_ would stop showing up at the most inopportune moments.

      Maybe there is some merit to Jake’s theory, she thinks. The question is: even if Sirius Black had somehow figure out to communicate with animals and get them on his side, how in the world would that assist him with getting out of the castle and past the dementors? She couldn’t believe she was considering this.

      “He’s a Disney princess,” Jake had said the other day, and although Amy hadn’t understood his reference she doubted it was a compliment.

      She squares her shoulders and sets off alone. She didn’t want to interrupt Jake if it ended up being yet another waste of time.

      She instead follows the dog at a distance, slowly and cautiously, hoping that her black robes help her blend in with the shadows more.

      How could it possibly be connected to Sirius Black? She creeps slowly, carefully. Who’s the cat, anyways?

      They’re approaching a gigantic tree - the _Whomping Willow?_ Someone from her year had gotten injured by it in their second year at Hogwarts and Amy had a rule about staying away from it ever since. She eyes it’s swaying branches with trepidation when it suddenly just _stops._ Every limb, every branch, every twig - frozen. Amy is so caught off guard by it’s sudden in action that she takes her eyes off the dog for a moment -

      The dog is gone. So is the cat. She searches the grounds for another three hours, trying in vain to find another trace of the beast.

It’s how she finds herself rapping on Jake’s door at five in the morning. He opens it, hair ruffled, pajamas wrinkled and looking utterly confused.

      “I need to talk to you,” Amy hisses, pulling Jake outside into the hallway and closing his apartment door behind him with a snap. “Case stuff.”

      “What is it?”

      “I’m starting to realize that you’re right,” she finally says. “Maybe there’s some merit to the dog theory that I didn’t see before.”

      Jake closes his eyes. “Oh wait. Could you repeat that? I think I’m a little hard of hearing. Did you just say I was maybe right?”

      Amy rolls her eyes. “Sirius Black infiltrated Hogwarts again tonight. He stood over Ron Weasley’s bed with a knife. We believe that he meant to get Harry, but stood over the wrong bed.”

      Jake’s eyes fly open. “Wait. Why didn’t anyone _tell me_? Why didn’t anyone wake me up?”

      “I didn’t want to disturb your time with Sophia if I could just go in and collect the evidence but - “

      “But?” He asks smugly.

      “I saw the dog again tonight, just like last time. But this time there was _a cat_ with it.” She tries to move her eyebrows for emphasis here. “Following it. Like they were together.”

      “A cat?” Jake raises an eyebrow. “Why is that the detail you’re hyper fixating on right now?”

      “Cats are intelligent animals okay,” Amy says, crossing her arms. “That’s not my point. We’ve been focusing on the dog as a single operation: but what if it’s got _friends_?”

      To his credit, Jake doesn’t laugh. He only looks thoughtful for a moment before leaning back against the doorframe and regarding her curiously. “And you had to wake me up in the middle of the night to tell me this…because?”

      Amy doesn’t have an answer. _Because,_ she wants to say, _because I couldn’t sleep until I told you. You’re my partner._ It was hard to hold this information inside of herself, she’d wanted to share it with someone else. Which now, she was seeing, was a stupid idea.

      “Sorry,” she says. “I don’t know why. The cat just excited me, I guess. A lead. That and I’ve been up all night. Didn’t sleep, you know.”

      “Finally,” Jake says. “Look Ames, I didn’t mean for you to feel bad, I just wanted - “

      “Ames?” Amy asks, gently. He’s never called her that before, and something about it feels delicate on the air. Something that lingers between them and doesn’t drift away, even when Sophia’s voice sounds from the apartment, calling Jake’s name.

      “You needed a different name,” he says, like that makes _any_ sense. “We’ll find out who the cat belongs to, okay? And I’m glad you came and told me. My door is always open.”

 

viii.

     

      “You look like hell,” Amy says the next morning. “Last time I checked, you didn’t walk around the Hogwarts grounds pursuing a goddamn _dog_ until five in the morning.”

      “Sophia and I fought this morning,” Jake says, nursing a cup of coffee. ( _Americans,_ Amy thinks as she takes a sip of her tea.)

      “What?” Amy asks in horror. “Oh my god, was it because I came to the door so - “

      “No,” Jake waves it away. “It was a continuation of a fight last night. She’s not happy with how long I’ve been here.”

      “Why?”

      “Because I may have hinted we’re closer to figuring out this dog mystery than we actually are,” Jake says, slumping back in his chair. “I just wanted her to think I was actually doing something out here. You know.”

      “I’m really sorry,” Amy says. It hits her then: Jake is a loaned asset. He’s not going to stay in Britain forever, he’s going to eventually move back to the United States and she’ll have the desk cross from her back from herself.

      Jake waves away her concern. “It doesn’t matter. She just doesn’t like that I…well.”

      “You what?”

      “I like it better here,” Jake shifts uncomfortably. “Than in the states, I mean. That may have come out in the heat of the moment.”

      “Oh,” Amy probably shouldn’t be caught off guard, but she is. “Well, that’s good.”

      “It is?” Jake raises an eyebrow. “I thought you hated having me here.”

      “Well,” Amy says, “ _maybe_ I changed my mind about that.”

      “Maybe?”

      “Maybe,” she says. (She’s not happy about this, nope, not at all.)

 

ix.

     

      They’re the last ones in the office the night they figure it out. Sophia has gone back home and Amy doesn’t really have anything better to do. That, and _maybe_ she likes hanging out with Jake Peralta. So instead of going home, they pick up some good food from the good muggle take-out place and spread all their ‘dog theory’ evidence out between them.

“So, according to school records the cat belongs to one Hermione Granger, who is also one of Harry Potter’s absolute best friends and thirteen years old. The odds that she’s somehow helping Sirius Black, a giant dog, attempt to kill her best friend are next to nothing.”

      “Imperious curse,” Amy suggests. “It’s not like a thirteen year old would be able to fight it off.”

      “Imperious curse, and then somehow she controls a cat and a dog through that?” Jake asks. “The only connection to her to this is the cat, which you saw on one occasion.”

      “It was definitely following the dog. I just wish we could ask Harry if he’s seen anything suspicious,” Amy says, rubbing her temples. Dumbledore had strongly forbidden any part of the Auror investigation interfering with Harry Potter’s personal life.

      “That would be an interesting conversation,” Jake says. “Hey Harry, have you seen any gigantic black dogs following you around? Watching you for it’s master? You know, the one who’s trying to kill you?”

      “It’s so bizarre,” Amy finally says.

      “What is?”

      “He’s been out of prison since late July,” Amy says. “It’s nearly June. Why didn’t he approach Harry at his Aunt and Uncle’s house? Why not send the dog _then_? Or if he has a dog under his control…” she trails off.

      “What is it?” Jake asks eagerly. “Is that an idea face?”

      “Oh my god,” Amy says. “We’ve been operating on the assumption that Black is controlling the dog but what if he _is_ the dog?”

      “But he’d have to be… an animagus,” Jake says. “Which is highly illegal without registration in most countries - “

      “We’re talking about someone who killed thirteen people!” Amy stood up. “Jake, it _makes sense._ What if the dementors have a harder time sensing him when he’s a dog? He slips through their reach again and again and all that’s left - “

      “He’s the dog,” Jake says. “Oh my god. I actually scratched a known murderer behind the ears and called him a _good boy.”_

      “We have to let Dumbledore know,” Amy says. “Right away.”

      “Protocol states we take this to a superior officer and wait to see what they’re going to do,” Jake says. Amy stares at him in disbelief.

      “Is now really going to be the time when you care about protocol?” She plants her hands on his desk and leans over her’s to get closer to him. “I don’t know if the higher ups will take us seriously, but Dumbledore will at least take it into account long enough to ensure Harry Potter’s safety against the flaw in the dementor’s reach. We can report to the higher ups in the morning.”

      “Santiago has a wild side after all!” Jake looks so satisfied that Amy almost wants to smack him. “Looks like you’re going on the worst occasion ever with me after all.”

     

x.

 

      There is no apparating directly into the castle, so they must stand at the castle gate with the dementors before someone can let them in. She can see whoever’s coming approaching, their lantern bobbing in the misty fog.

      She’s cast a small patronus to keep them safe from the dementors embrace (something that made Jake actually look impressed) but she can almost still feel their influence seeping in with the realization that maybe the dog theory wasn’t entirely useless, but also possibly that they were about to be laughed at by Albus Dumbledore.

      “I can’t believe we got assigned the worst part of the case and then it ended up turning out to be the _best_!” Jake says happily. “Like seriously. How lucky are we? Can you imagine the look on those sick bastards faces when we bring in Sirius Black?”

      “Aurors Santiago and Peralta,” it’s Professor Flitwick this time, “what brings you here?”

      “I think we have a new lead,” Amy says through the bars. “A solid lead. We’d like to discuss the matter with Professor Dumbledore if possible. It’s extremely urgent.” She passes her Auror badge through the bars and Flitwick examines it carefully before raising his wand.

      The gates slowly creep open.

      “Thank you Professor,” Amy says, accepting her badge. “Is Professor Dumbledore in his office?”

      “I believe so,” Flitwick pipes. “I have to ensure that the enchantments mourned the gates are secure, so if you’ll excuse me…”

      “You’d think the security against the forces of evil would be tighter,” Jake mutters as they begin the long walk up to the castle.

      “Well, it would have worked quite well I think if…”

      “If our theory is correct and Sirius Black can indeed turn into a - “

      He’s cut off by a sudden shout from above. Both of them whirl around to see three young teenagers sprinting across the Hogwarts grounds. Amy is almost one hundred percent certain that _none_ of them had been there before.

      “SCABBERS!” One of them is shouting, the tallest of the three with a shock of bright red hair.

      “What the hell…?” Jake asks. “Isn’t there a curf - “

      “Oh my god - _Jake_!” Amy doesn’t mean to grab his hand but she does as the gigantic black dog bounds out of the gloom. “It’s him!”

      The dog bowls over one of the kids and seizes the other by the leg - oh god, what if it’s Harry Potter?

      Neither of them hesitate. Their wands are out and they’re sprinting up the mountainside before a further word could pass between them. Even if it wasn’t Sirius Black, Amy reassures herself, at least they’ll have saved three kids from possible dismemberment via dog. And if it is Sirius Black -

      Well looks like the dog theory wasn’t useless after all.

      They’re both out of breath and wheezing by the time they reach the point the kids were at on the hill - who thought building a castle on a mountain was a good idea?

      Jake sprints in the direction of the general screaming, which Amy recognizes immediately -

      “PERALTA!” Amy screams, but it’s far too late. He’s gotten too close and the tree limb hits him right in the stomach, flinging him halfway across the lawn.

      “WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY THE TREE COULD FIGHT BACK?!” Jake wails, as another branch soars toward him. He rolls frantically out of the way.

      Amy flails her wand at the branch and manages to divert it’s course…directly toward her. It sweeps under her legs and smacks her against the ground.

      They are, quite literally, getting their asses kicked by a tree.

      She manages to roll over before the second branch can take her head off.

      “STUPEFY!” A different voice shouts and she hears Jake cry out.

      “Jake?!” She demands in fear and horror, attempting to scramble to her feet. The tree is wrapping a thin branch around her ankles and dragging her backwards, and this is how she’s going to die via tree -

      “IMMOBULUS!” The same voice as before shouts.

      “Remus?” Amy demands. “What the hell are you doing?”

      She scrabbles to free herself from the Whomping Willow but Remus is faster -

      “Stupefy.”

 

xi.

 

      “Escaped?” Jake demands angrily, “and Remus Lupin is just…fine? There’s no consequences against him for attacking two Aurors? And not just attacking them, but also tying them up and leaving them to be discovered by _Dawlish_ of all people?”

      “And,” Amy adds, “why are we being briefed by you as opposed to our superior officer? Sir?”

      Professor Dumbledore looks graver than Amy’s ever seen him. Granted, this is the first one on one session she’s ever had with him, but still. Grave. She wishes Jake would sit down instead of pacing behind her chair like a caged animal.

      “You’re the only two Aurors who made the connection between the dog and Sirius Black.”

      “Well yeah,” Jake says. “That’s because we’re the best.”

      “And we were assigned it as a pointless lead to keep us out of the way,” Amy says.

      “I wouldn’t have expected anything less from the man who took down Auror Hawkins or one of the best witches Hogwarts has ever said,” Dumbledore says calmly (Amy beams on the inside). “However, the seriousness of what I’m about to press upon you is of great and terrific importance. All I ask is that you listen to what I have to say, and wait to make any decisions until you’ve listened to it in it’s entirety.”

      Jake braces his hands on the back of his vacated chair.

      “This is ridiculous,” he says.

      “Jake,” Amy pleads. “Let’s listen.”

      “Fine,” Jake says. “I’m listening old man.”

      “Sirius Black is innocent,” Dumbledore says calmly, which granted, is the craziest thing Amy has perhaps _ever_ heard.

      “I’m sorry sir,” Amy says, “but there are countless eyewitnesses showing Black at the crime scene - “

      “I believe you know now that Sirius Black is an animagus. He wasn’t the only one according to some recent sources.”

      “Do you mean James Potter…?” Amy asks. “Remus Lupin?”

      Jake seems to get it before she does, “Or Peter Pettigrew - “

      “The only thing they found of him was a finger,” Amy finishes. “Are you telling me that Sirius Black didn’t kill him…where’s your proof?”

      “Harry and his friends met Peter Pettigrew tonight and talked to him.”

      “Let me guess,” Jake says. “ _After_ Remus Lupin attacked us and then went and cavorted in the tree. Why do you have a tree that can kill people again? How is that a good idea?”

      “After Remus _subdued_ you,” Dumbledore suggests gently. “There wasn’t enough time to fill you in. You would have seen Sirius Black and done everything in your power to take him out: as good Aurors do. I wouldn’t expect any less. He had seen proof that Peter Pettigrew was alive and needed to act upon it.”

      “I can’t believe you expect us to believe this - “

      “Harry Potter believes it,” Dumbledore says. “Is that not good enough? He’s not one to trust lightly. And I’m inclined to believe him. That, and Sirius’ word. I don’t expect you both to trust me, of course.”

      “But I do trust you sir,” Amy says quickly. “It’s just, well. This is a lot to take in.”

      “I understood,” Dumbledore says. “I only beg you to not tell anyone else that Sirius Black is an animagus.”

      “Then where’s Peter Pettigrew?” Jake demands. “If Sirius Black is innocent, then where’s Peter Pettigrew? Let me guess, he can turn into a naked mole rat.”

      “A rat, actually,” Dumbledore says. Amy thinks she understood something about James and Lily’s death in that moment and judging by the look on Dumbledore’s face, Amy’s sure that Peter Pettigrew isn’t in a cell somewhere.

      “He escaped,” she guesses. “They had him, and he escaped somehow.”

      “He escaped,” Dumbledore confirms. “I’d like for you to find him for me. As the world’s best Aurors.”

      (Amy isn’t sure if she imagines the twinkle in his eyes or not as he says the last sentence.)

 

xii.

 

      “So,” Jake says later, once they’ve filed their official report with the ministry. (According to the official story, they were each knocked out by the Whomping Willow. Not a very brave story, Amy supposes, but if everything goes according to plan this isn’t how they’ll be remembered.) “Are you ready to go on the worst occasion ever?”

     

 

**Author's Note:**

> more parts if people are interested?? i am very nervous about this story so let me know what ya'll think!


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